London’s legal pay war rolls on. The latest development has been a rise in pay from US law firm Simpson Thacher who have hiked salaries for its newly qualified (NQ) lawyers to £170,000 a year
The law firm has gave its London NQ lawyers a £12,000 a year pay rise, after upping their salaries by eight per cent to £170,000 on 1 November.
The pay hikes come in line with the other BigLaw US firms, including Kirkland & Ellis and Latham & Watkins, and just behind pay way frontrunner Akin Gump, according to UK reports.
The entry of higher paying US law firms into the UK market for legal services has continued to push up prices in the sector, notwithstanding the difficulties now being faced by many firms with rising costs, slowing transactional work and greater competion.
The plummeting value of Britain’s currency has worsened the situation in bolstering the remuneration given out to those UK lawyers paid in US dollars.